Erie hospitals to dissolve cancer center deal

Wednesday

The cancer center, which is owned by the two hospitals and managed by UPMC Cancer Centers, will continue providing physician visits and radiation treatments for at least two years.

UPMC Hamot and Saint Vincent Hospital agreed in 1987 to create the Regional Cancer Center, in part to avoid duplicating cancer services.

The two Erie hospitals announced Wednesday they are ending their joint ownership of the Millcreek Township cancer center and will open their own centers in a few years.

"We are proud to have been part of the legacy of the Regional Cancer Center for the past 30 years, but times have changed," said Saint Vincent President Christopher Clark, D.O. "We want to become part of the Allegheny Health Network Cancer Institute, have these services on our campus and offer more services."

The Regional Cancer Center, 2500 W. 12th St., will remain open for at least two more years, Hamot and Saint Vincent officials said. The center is managed by UPMC Hillman Cancer Center and provides radiation treatments. It is also where oncologists and their employees see cancer patients.

Infusion services, including chemotherapy, have been provided at each hospital since September 2016.

"Competition is a good thing," Hamot President David Gibbons said. "UPMC Hamot will be a fully integrated partner of the UPMC Hillman Cancer Center with access to more than 2,000 physicians, researchers and staff."

Michael Keyes, the Regional Cancer Center's executive director, said in a news release that the hospitals have agreed to buy new radiation equipment for the cancer center but referred questions about the center's future to hospital officials.

In an email to Regional Cancer Center staff, Keyes said their "positions are secure, and we do not expect any immediate changes." Gibbons and Clark both said they are interested in recruiting physicians and staff.

The expense of radiation equipment was the main reason why Hamot and Saint Vincent didn't divide those services in 2016, officials said at the time. Clark said both hospitals now believe that having twice as many devices makes financial sense.

"Saint Vincent and Hamot are collectively seeing more patients now compared to when everything was at the RCC," Clark said. "There's enough demand (for more equipment)."

Gibbons said no significant changes are expected in the short term, as the hospitals prepare their own centers. Hamot has negotiated to have the right to locate its cancer center at the Regional Cancer Center, but UPMC officials haven't decided whether to locate it there or at the hospital.

"It may depend on the drug pricing," Gibbons said, referring to the fact that hospitals receive higher reimbursements for chemotherapy drugs than freestanding cancer centers do. "We certainly see the benefit of the Regional Cancer Center building itself, with its ease of access and parking. We have the options of having cancer services here at the hospital, splitting them, or putting everything there."

Saint Vincent will open its cancer center on the hospital campus in late 2019. Construction is expected to start in a few months, Clark said.

"It will benefit patients in several ways," Clark said. "Our surgeons who care for cancer patients will have more access to them for evaluations and treatments. Our cancer doctors will be on campus and it will centralize our cancer care."

Cancer treatments used to be conducted at the hospitals before the Regional Cancer Center opened. Peter Scibetta, M.D., led a group of oncologists who convinced Hamot and Saint Vincent to open it.

The two hospitals sometimes battled over how the center was operated. Hamot officials had announced in April 2003 that they would build their own cancer center unless they could use the RCC as part of their own hospital-based treatment program.

A messy legal and public-relations battle ended up before Erie County Judge Shad Connelly before the two hospitals agreed to use the center exclusively. In 2008, the two hospitals hired UPMC Cancer Centers to manage the center's day-to-day operations.

Hamot and Saint Vincent continue to jointly own EmergyCare and Associated Clinical Laboratories. Gibbons said there have been no discussions to end those joint agreements.

David Bruce can be reached at 870-1736 or by email. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ETNbruce.

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